Mayor names new airport director

Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson on Wednesday said he has appointed a replacement for the airport director he fired in October.

Maureen Riley, the current director of aviation services at RW Block Consulting in Orlando, Fla., is scheduled to take the reins at Salt Lake City International Airport on Feb. 26. Her hiring is subject to the advice and consent of the City Council.

Riley, a certified public accountant, served as deputy executive director of finance and administration for the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority from 2000 to 2006, overseeing a $300 million annual operating budget.

She has also worked with the Salt Lake airport before, as a project manager, and at the Yosemite International Airport in Fresno, Calif., while she was senior associate for Leigh Fisher Associates in San Francisco from 1996 to 2000.

She has been involved with planning at the Denver International Airport and the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood, Fla., International Airport.

"Her extensive experience throughout the airport sector, particularly her tremendous achievements in managing assets and implementing capital improvement programs at the Orlando Aviation Authority, will greatly benefit Salt Lake City residents and all who travel through our renowned airport," Anderson said in a statement.

Riley replaces Roy Williams, whom Anderson fired in October after he had only been on the job for five months. Anderson did not go into detail about why he fired Williams, though he suggested it stemmed from poor management of resources and discontent among airport staff.

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